Webel-Fujisoft-Vara CoE to train youth in emerging tech

The CoE set up by the Department of IT and Electronics and the MSME Directorate, West Bengal, aims at providing corporates, MSMEs and startups access to technology that can boost their productivity, product quality and foster innovation, harnessing the full scope of the technologies of Industry 4.0

Call it 'catch 'em young' or something else! In a novel move, Webel-Fujisoft-Vara Centre of Excellence (CoE), an initiative of the Government of West Bengal, which is being executed by Fujisoft Inc., Japan and Vara Technology, will now reach out to government schools to create social impact and to PSUs, corporates and MSMEs to create technology impact and bridge the gap between industry and academia. The CoE, aimed at providing Corporates, MSME Unit and startups access to technology that can boost their productivity, product quality and foster innovation, harnessing the full scope of the technologies of Industry 4.0, has been set up by the Department of IT and Electronics and the MSME Directorate, West Bengal. Significantly, it is the only Centre of Excellence for four technologies of Industry 4.0, namely data science, cybersecurity, embedded systems/ IoT, and additive manufacturing (3D printing).

The State-run CoE promises to offer services like:

- Training and mentoring students on these four technologies to enhance their employability or become technopreneurs of startups.

- Incubator for driving innovation and new businesses. Start-ups spawned by the CoE will have access to leadership, management and technology consulting services as well as access to funding.

- Research on areas of interest for both industry and academia.

- Consulting services for MSMEs to improve their efficiency, productivity, quality & market reach by leveraging the CoE faculty, industry, business and technology expertise. The MSMEs will provide live cases and projects for students who are doing Certificate Courses at the CoE.

"The world is in the midst of a significant transformation around the way we work and manufacture products. This is due to digitization of manufacturing. This transformation is being called Industry 4.0 and it represents the fourth revolution that has occurred in manufacturing. This fourth revolution will be epitomized by a range of new technologies that combine physical, digital and biological worlds. These new technologies will impact all disciplines, economies and industries. Therefore, organizations and workforce need to upscale their competitiveness by adopting the technologies of Industry 4.0. Banking on India's strength in Information Technology and a large workforce of IT professionals, the transformative journey of manufacturing through Industry 4.0 has already begun in the country. Manufacturing today is cutting edge and requires a high level of skill. Though India depends heavily on its service sector for growth, the manufacturing sector needs to play a significant role in the Indian economy. The CoE has come up with these views in mind," said Dr Rashmi Sharma, Head - Webel Fujisoft Vara Centre of Excellence (CoE).

Debashis Majumdar, Country Head -Fujisoft India, on his parts, said, "The 3-storyed 19000 sq ft state-of-the-art CoE has already tied-up with several global organizations and leading technology companies - both to provide the infrastructure, hardware and software as well as academic support and certification. Some of the companies in collaboration include Intel, nVidia, Boston Training Academy, Boston IT Solutions, Dassault Systemes, Stratasys, Trend Micro, Fortinet, IMI Israel, Think Cyber, Israel, to name a few. These global partners position the CoE as a true enabler for creating future- fit talent and future-ready businesses." The CoE provides a complete ecosystem for developing talent. The programmes at the CoE go beyond theory with 70 per cent hands-on learning, giving the beneficiaries valuable real-world insights. The courses entail case-studies, real time projects as well as Capstone Projects, brought by the corporates, he said. When it comes to 3D Printing, the CoE has already made its mark and an increasing number of companies from areas like automobile, aerospace, healthcare, FMCG, consumer electronics, defence from across the country have started awarding bulk jobs or getting their prototypes done here.